Huge shake-up of NSF begins as agency marks 75th anniversary

The National Science Foundation turned 75 on Saturday, but celebrations planned for this week have been marred by a turbulent few months at the agency and breaking news of a major organizational shake-up. On Friday, NSF announced it had initiated a Reduction in Force (RIF) of executive positions across the agency and the elimination of its Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM. In an internal memo, viewed by FYI, NSF’s Chief Management Officer Micah Cheatham stated that the agency currently has space for 143 Senior Executive Service (SES) positions but has determined that just 59 are required going forward. The agency plans to reassign SES staff who do not retain their titles to new roles within NSF by June 30 and lay off those without “fallback rights.” All staff within the STEM equity division are subject to the RIF order, with around 15 to 30 employees thought to have been affected.

The memo also revealed major changes to hundreds of staff known as rotators — scientists who are temporarily employed by NSF for a few years at a time under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act in order to help the agency stay on the cutting edge of research. Over the next 30 days, NSF plans to move IPA rotators out of SES positions “into new, executive-level positions where they will retain program responsibility and authority but will no longer supervise federal employees.” NSF also plans to reduce its temporary workforce from 368 employees to a target of 70 employees. These positions will focus on “presidential priorities in artificial Intelligence, biotechnology, nuclear energy, quantum science, and translational science,” according to the memo.

These actions appear to be connected to broader plans to disband discipline-specific divisions at the agency and downsize the eight directorates, according to reporting by Science. On social media, current and former NSF staff reacted with dismay at the restructuring of the agency and the elimination of the STEM equity division. NSF’s workers union, AFGE Local 3403, also issued a letter calling for the immediate resignation of Cheatham, arguing that his actions violate federal law because many functions of the equity division are required by statute and that he is “clearly more interested in appeasing the administration than in doing the work directed and funded by Congress.” In a statement on the division termination, NSF said it “is mindful of its statutory program obligations and plans to take steps to ensure those continue.”

New batch of S&T nominees announced; DOE and USGS picks to testify

Within the past two weeks, President Donald Trump announced a wave of new nominees to take on top science and technology-related roles, including

• Matt Anderson to be deputy administrator at NASA,
• David Beck to be deputy administrator for defense programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration,
• Pedro Allende to be under secretary for science and technology at the Department of Homeland Security,
• Brent Ingraham to be assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, technology, and logistics ,
• Amy Henninger to be director of operational test and evaluation at the Department of Defense, and
• David Peters to be assistant secretary for export enforcement at the Commerce Department.

Meanwhile, multiple nominees selected for roles in the Department of Energy and the U.S. Geological Survey will participate in Senate confirmation hearings this week. The Senate Armed Services Committee will meet Tuesday to consider the nomination of Matthew Napoli to lead defense nuclear nonproliferation programs at NNSA. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will meet Wednesday to consider the nominations of Ned Mamula to be USGS director, Conner Prochaska to be director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, Tina Pierce to be chief financial officer at DOE, and Jonathan Brightbill to be general counsel at DOE.

Ideas for streamlining research regulations pitched to OMB

The Council on Governmental Relations, an association representing research institutions and universities, issued a list of 16 recommendations last week outlining ways the government could streamline research regulations. Several priority recommendations identified by COGR focus on standardizing grant application and review procedures across agencies. Examples include creating a single grant application process to be used by all agencies as well as a single format for disclosing applicants’ educational background and funding sources.

COGR’s suggestions respond to a request for information issued by the White House Office of Management and Budget in April. In a letter accompanying the recommendations, COGR President Matt Owens urged the Trump administration to gather feedback on any proposed actions to deregulate research, in line with the Administrative Procedures Act. He stated that recent actions by the administration have added “new duplicative and burdensome certification and financial reporting requirements for research grant recipients” that run counter to the administration’s stated goal of reducing regulations.

In related news, a National Academies committee is currently producing a fast-track report that will suggest federal actions to improve regulatory efficiency and reduce administrative burdens in research. The committee is soliciting ideas through a short survey.

Also on our radar

• NSF advocates are marking the agency’s 75th anniversary with a series of events this week, including a reception and research showcase on Capitol Hill on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
• Scientists will testify on NASA’s strategy for detecting and deflecting asteroids at a House Science Committee hearing on Thursday.
• A bill restricting Department of Homeland Security funding to U.S. universities with ties to “Chinese entities of concern” was passed by the House last week on a 266-153 vote, with 55 Democrats supporting. The American Council on Education has opposed the bill, which now moves to the Senate.
• A National Academies committee tasked with updating the guide “On Being a Scientist: Responsible Conduct in Research” — first published in 1989 — will hold its kickoff meeting on Tuesday featuring remarks by staff from the House Science Committee.
• David Gallagher will take over from Laurie Leshin as director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, starting June 1. Gallagher was previously JPL’s associate director for strategic innovation.
• Physicist and engineer Stephen Winchell has been tapped to lead the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency starting May 19, DefenseScoop reports.

---

---

All events are Eastern Time unless otherwise noted. Listings do not imply endorsement. Events beyond this week are listed on our website.

Monday, May 12

National Academies: Committee on Education for Thriving in a Changing Climate, meeting one (continues Tuesday)

House: Letting off steam: Unleashing geothermal energy development on federal land
4:00 pm, Natural Resources Committee

Tuesday, May 13

FLC: Federal Lab Consortium national meeting (continues through June 5)

National Academies: Assessment of the NIST Center for Neutron Research (continues through Thursday)

NSMA: National Spectrum Management Association annual conference (continues Wednesday)

Heritage Foundation: Is the sky falling? Reconsidering the endangerment finding
9:00 am - 3:15 pm

National Academies: Manufacturing USA technology transfer workshop
9:30 am - 4:15 pm

Senate: Nomination hearing for Matthew Napoli to be deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation at NNSA
9:30 am, Armed Services Committee

National Academies: On Being a Scientist Committee, meeting one
11:00 am - 2:00 pm

House: Meeting to advance tax policy proposals for reconciliation legislation
2:00 pm, Ways and Means Committee

House: Meeting to advance energy, health, and communications policy proposals for reconciliation legislation
2:00 pm, Energy and Commerce Committee

AAAS: Leveraging procurement for responsible AI in the public sector
2:00 - 3:00 pm

ITIF: How Americans feel about AI — and why it matters for policy
3:00 - 4:30 pm

Senate: Hearings to examine DOD missile defense activities
4:45 pm, Armed Services Committee

CNSF: National Science Foundation 75th anniversary reception
5:30 - 7:30 pm

Wednesday, May 14

Georgia Tech: Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy (continues through Friday)

Senate: Nomination hearing for Conner Prochaska to be director of ARPA-E and Ned Mamula to be director of USGS
9:30 am, Energy and Natural Resources Committee

House: HHS budget request hearing
9:30 am, Appropriations Committee

House: ICE oversight hearing
10:00 am, Appropriations Committee

Senate: Trade in critical supply chains
10:00 am, Finance Committee

House: National economic security, advancing US interests abroad
10:00 am, Foreign Affairs Committee

Senate: EPA budget request hearing
10:30 am, Appropriations Committee

DOE: Informational meeting for the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility management and operating contract competition
11:00 am - 1:30 pm

National Academies: Supporting postdoctoral scholars experiencing sexual harassment in higher education, issue paper release event
11:30 am - 12:45 pm

CNSF: NSF 75th anniversary showcase
11:30 am - 1:30 pm

CSIS: NASA budget outlook discussion
1:00 - 2:00 pm

Senate: HHS budget request hearing
1:30 pm, HELP Committee

Nuclear Threat Initiative: A conversation with New York Times Opinion
2:00 pm

Senate: Foreign threats to American innovation and economic leadership
2:30 pm, Judiciary Committee

Senate: Financing America’s manufacturing and industrial boom
2:30 pm, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee

House: National security space programs
3:30 pm, Armed Services Committee

CRA: Computing futures showcase
5:00 - 7:00 pm

Thursday, May 15

National Academies: Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board meeting (continues Friday)

House: From detection to deflection: Evaluating NASA’s planetary defense strategy
10:00 am, Science Committee

House: EPA budget request hearing
10:00 am, Appropriations Committee

Hudson Institute: Strategic technology and the US-India relationship
2:30 - 4:00 pm

National Academies: Future directions for NSF’s advanced cyberinfrastructure, meeting three
3:30 - 5:00 pm

Hoover Institution: Biotech and national security
5:15 - 6:30 pm

Friday, May 16

CSIS: Securing the future of US quantum leadership with Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi
9:00 am - 10:00 am

National Academies: Functions and criteria for a new center for paleoenvironmental records of extreme events: NOAA paleoclimatology database
12:30 - 1:30 pm

Monday, May 19

National Academies: Committee on Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Sciences spring meeting (continues Tuesday)

National Academies: Manufacturing the future: Innovation by the numbers
1:00 - 2:00 pm

CNAS: Maintaining America’s AI edge
2:00 - 3:00 pm

---

Deadlines indicated in parentheses. Newly added opportunities are marked with a diamond.

On April 15, the Trump administration extended the federal hiring freeze into the summer.

Job Openings

◆Bipartisan Policy Center: Associate director, energy program (ongoing)
◆Bipartisan Policy Center: Senior policy analyst, energy program (ongoing)
◆American Association of Cancer Research: Director, regulatory science and policy (ongoing)
◆American Association of Cancer Research: Director, science and health policy (ongoing)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab: Associate deputy director for science and technology (ongoing)
Federation of American Scientists: AI and emerging tech manager (ongoing)
AIP: Associate director of public policy research and analysis (ongoing)
White House: OSTP assistant director (May 23)
White House: OSTP policy adviser (May 23)
UN: Office of Outer Space Affairs government relations officer (June 5)
◆UCAR: Legislative specialist (May 27)
ANS: Congressional science and engineering fellowship (June 6)

Solicitations

◆National Academies: Research regulatory efficiency consensus study survey (ongoing)
◆Grant Watch: Collection form for NSF grant cancellations (ongoing)
◆Grant Watch: Collection form for NIH grant cancellations (ongoing)
AAAS: Assessing the impacts of federal policies on the US STEMM community (ongoing)
APS: Survey collecting stories about the positive impact of federally funded research (ongoing)
BIS: RFC on national security investigation of imports of processed critical minerals and derivative products (May 16)
DHS: RFC on training plan for STEM OPT students (May 19)
◆OPM: RFC on reclassification of policy employees (May 23)
NSF: RFI on national artificial intelligence research plan (May 29)
NSB: Call for nominations to the National Science Board (May 30)
NSF: RFC on NSF Education and Training Application (June 1)
NSF: RFC on evaluation of the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (June 1)
EPA: Call for nominations to the Science Advisory Board (June 2)

Know of an opportunity for scientists to engage in science policy? Email us at fyi@aip.org.

---

News and views currently in circulation. Links do not imply endorsement.

White House

White House: Executive order on improving the safety and security of biological research
Nature: Trump freezes ‘gain of function’ pathogen research ― threatening all US virology, critics say
American Society for Microbiology: Pausing research not a path to better biosafety and biosecurity
Politico: Trump administration to revive National Space Council
Science: After 100 days of upheaval, what’s next for US science?

Congress

Politico: GOP trims Trump’s sails after spending cuts falter
House CCP Committee: Trojan horse tech: Select committee sounds alarm on CCP robots inside US institutions
Senate Commerce Committee: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): Adopting Europe’s approach on regulation will cause China to win the AI race
FedScoop: Bipartisan Senate bill calls for DOE, NIST team-up on AI evaluations
Issues in Science and Technology: Scientists need to learn how information flows to congressional staffers — and the crucial role they play in setting policy (perspective by Sheril Kirshenbaum)

Science, Society, and the Economy

NPR: Economists warn Trump’s research cuts could have dire consequences for GDP
Nature: Cuts to US science will take a generation to repair — leaders must speak up now (perspective by Michael Lubell)
Ars Technica: Censoring the scientific enterprise, one grant at a time (perspective by Mary Feeney)
Bloomberg: Tech industry warns US investment pledges hinge on research tax break
NPR: Most Americans use federal science information on a weekly basis, a new poll finds
The Conversation: Basic research advances science and can also have broader impacts on modern society (perspective by Bruce MacFadden)
The Conversation: Science requires ethical oversight – without federal dollars, society’s health and safety are at risk (perspective by Christine Coughlin and Nancy King)
Undark Magazine: Forensic science faces an identity crisis (perspective by Laura Spinney)

Education and Workforce

Chemical & Engineering News: ACS drops Scholars Program for students underrepresented in chemistry
Chemical & Engineering News: How ACS will support the next generation of scientists (perspective by LaTrease Garrison)
Hechinger Report: Three-fourths of NSF funding cuts hit education
Foreign Affairs: America’s coming brain drain: Trump’s war on universities could kill US Innovation (perspective by Rafael Reif)
STAT: Chinese and Chinese-American researchers in the US confront a perilous moment
Stanford Review: Uncovering Chinese academic espionage at Stanford
Stanford: Statement in response to Stanford Review article
FAS: Bridging innovation and expertise: Connecting federal talent to America’s tech ecosystems

Research Management

Wall Street Journal: America’s richest foundations team up against feared Trump assault
GAO: Intellectual property: Patent office should strengthen its efforts to address persistent examination and quality challenges (report)
Nature: Why China needs to review its approach to research evaluation (perspective by Yuxin Zhao)
Nature: P hacking — Five ways it could happen to you (perspective by Benjamin Tsang)
Retraction Watch: Web of Science delists bioengineering journal in wake of paper mill cleanup
Retraction Watch: A ‘stupid mistake’: EPA researcher added their underage child as an author on a manuscript
Nature: Renewal of NIH grants linked to more innovative results, study finds

Labs and Facilities

CERN: Ireland to become an Associate Member State of CERN
Physics Today: On CERN and Russia (perspective by Tanja Rindler-Daller)
Colorado Public Radio: 114 people laid off from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
DOE : Students and faculty to join research teams this summer at DOE national laboratories and a fusion facility
Los Alamos National Lab: LANL announces 2025 fellowships for ‘deep tech’ entrepreneurs
Oak Ridge National Lab: AI Initiative projects receive NAIRR, INCITE awards for foundation models
Wall Street Journal: The stealthy lab cooking up Amazon’s secret sauce
Physics World: European center celebrates 50 years at the forefront of weather forecasting

Computing and Communications

Reuters: Trump administration to rescind and replace Biden-era global AI chip export curbs
Washington Post: AI execs used to beg for regulation. Not anymore
Bloomberg: Tech executives urge senators to rethink regulations for AI
Lawfare: 1,000 AI bills: Time for Congress to get serious about preemption (perspective by Kevin Frazier and Adam Thierer)
CSET: Is it too late to slow China’s AI development? (perspective by Helen Toner et al.)
Financial Times: Trump’s attack on green energy could hurt US in AI race, data centres warn
FedScoop: Quantum industry leaders voice support for NIST, other science agencies following Trump’s requested budget cuts
Chemical & Engineering: What will it take to realize the potential of quantum computing in chemistry? (perspective)

Space

Ars Technica: NASA scrambles to cut ISS activity due to budget issues
ESA: ESA director general reaction to a reduced budget proposal for NASA
NASA: NASA expands SPHEREx science return through commercial partnership
Nature: ‘Orwellian’: Planetary scientists outraged over deletion of research records
Scientific American: Trump budget calls for stranding NASA’s Mars samples on the red planet
SpaceNews: House Democrats seek information from NASA and the Pentagon on Musk conflicts of interest and SpaceX foreign investment
The Guardian: Trump administration to stop US research on space pollution, in boon to Elon Musk
SpaceNews: Space: The new frontier for transatlantic cooperation (perspective by Günther Lackner)

Weather, Climate, and Environment

E&E News: NOAA database will stop tracking most expensive disasters
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: How the dismantling of NOAA threatens the Keeling Curve (perspective by Eric Morgan and Ralph Keeling)
E&E News: NOAA warns of conspiracy-driven threat to weather towers
Inside Climate News: Scientists are reviving climate and nature research efforts in the wake of Trump cuts
Inside Climate News: Trump administration decommissions sea ice data that sounded an alarm on arctic climate change
E&E News: Interior staff braces for impending layoffs
E&E News: Chevron shifts tactics in climate case: Show us proof

Energy

DOE: DOE caps indirect costs for for-profit, non-profit organizations, and state and local governments
E&E News: DOE clarifies position on staffing departures
E&E News: Meet the 4 influencers shaping the energy secretary’s worldview
Power: 17 states sue Trump over halt to wind energy projects

Defense

Optics.org: US Naval Research Lab’s NIKE laser refocused from NIF to nuclear deterrence
Inside Defense: House defense appropriators criticize White House defense budget request
Emerging Technologies Institute: Defense budget reforms: An appropriator’s perspective (audio)
Breaking Defense: Golden Dome’s need for more SBIs may moot savings from lower launch costs: CBO
Breaking Defense: Space Force eyeing international launch sites to increase ‘resilience’

Biomedical

ABC7 Los Angeles: California eyes its own National Institutes of Health as science funding faces deep federal cuts
Can We Still Govern?: The NIH budget is on a fast track to disaster (perspective by anonymous NIH employee)
Stat: Francis Collins blasts Trump administration’s ‘slash-and-burn’ actions at science agencies
Nature: Documents reveal how NIH will axe climate studies
Science News: $1.8 billion in NIH grant cuts hit minority health research the hardest
Stat: 5 burning questions about FDA’s ‘aggressive’ deployment of AI for scientific review

International Affairs

Stat: Bill Gates to accelerate spending at his foundation — then wind it down
Science|Business: Macron calls for action to protect collaborative research platforms and databases
Science|Business: Don’t feel guilty about poaching scientists fleeing Trump, Federation of American Scientists staff member tells Europe
Research Professional: Dsit confirms it will announce UK scheme for foreign research talent
Research Professional: EU must not neglect basic research, warns former R&I chief
Science|Business: Budget first, impact later: Academic community reacts to Horizon Europe analysis
Science and Diplomacy: The US needs science for a National Science Diplomacy Strategy (perspective by Kimberly Montgomery)